How to find your golf glove size

A golf glove only does its job when it fits like a second skin. Too loose and the leather bunches in your palm, so you squeeze harder to feel the club. Too tight and it pulls across the knuckles, strains the seams and makes every swing a little less comfortable. The good news: finding your size takes about a minute and two simple measurements.

What you need

A soft tape measure, the kind used for sewing, is ideal. No tape? A strip of paper or a length of string works just as well: mark it with a pen, then lay it flat against a ruler. Measure the hand you wear the glove on. For a right-handed golfer, that is the left hand. If you are unsure which hand that is, our guide to which hand a golf glove goes on settles it.

Measurement A: hand length

Hold your glove hand flat with the fingers together. Measure from the tip of your middle finger down to the first crease where your palm meets your wrist. Keep the tape straight along the center of your hand rather than following the curve of the fingers, and read the number in inches.

Measurement B: palm circumference

Open your hand and hold the thumb away from the fingers. Wrap the tape around the widest part of the palm, just below the knuckles, leaving the thumb out. Pull it snug against the skin but not tight. That number is your palm circumference.

Read your size

Find the size where your two measurements sit. Our sizes follow the same standard used by the major golf brands, so if a size has always felt right to you elsewhere, it should feel right here too.

If your two numbers point to different sizes, open the size guide on the glove page: it combines both measurements into a single answer.

Between two sizes? Go smaller

Cabretta is a thin, supple leather, and it gives a little as it warms to your hand over the first few rounds. A glove that feels snug, not tight, on day one will feel made for you soon after. A glove that starts loose only gets looser. So when you sit right on the line between two sizes, choose the smaller one.

Snug means the leather lies flat across the palm and the back of the hand with no wrinkles, your fingertips reach the ends of the fingers without pressing against them, and the closure tab fastens comfortably without stretching to reach. If you can pinch loose leather at the fingertips or across the palm, the glove is too big.

Regular or cadet?

Some brands sell cadet sizes alongside regular ones. The difference is simple: a cadet glove is cut for a hand with shorter fingers and a wider palm, while a regular glove has longer fingers in proportion to the palm. If regular gloves fit you well across the palm but always leave spare leather at the fingertips, a cadet cut may suit you.

Gilded Grip gloves come in 5 regular sizes, S to XL. If your measurements suggest a cadet fit, choose by palm circumference, or write to us with both numbers and we will tell you honestly how our glove is likely to feel before you order.

Buying for someone else

If the glove is a gift, you probably cannot measure his hand without giving the game away. Look at a glove he already plays in instead: the size is usually printed inside the wrist tab or on the inner cuff. Because the major brands size in much the same way, his current size is the safest guide. No glove to check? His regular playing partner, or the pro shop where he buys his gloves, will usually know.

A quick fit check when it arrives

• Put the glove on and fasten the tab. The leather should lie flat on the back of your hand.
• Make a fist. The glove should move with you, not pull at the knuckles or the seams.
• Take your grip on a club. There should be no loose folds in the palm where the handle sits.
• Check the fingertips. They should meet yours without pressing on your nails.

Get those four right and the glove disappears on your hand, which is exactly what a good glove should do. All that is left for anyone to notice is your initials in gold.